I swallowed back a groan.Couldn’t he just make this simple and say yes?
“It’s hard to explain, but if you aren’t, it would make a lot more sense,” I mumbled.
“Try me.” He sat back on the couch and crossed his legs in a wide arc. “I’ve got time.”
“It’s embarrassing, okay?” I sputtered.
Victor quirked a brow but didn’t move. “I’ve seen you naked already. What else is there to be embarrassed about?”
I groaned and shot up off the couch, flailing my arms. “Stop avoiding the question!”
“I’m not,” he said simply. “I’m asking you to explain why you think that.”
My face turned hot, like I was a kid being put on the spot in school. “Well, for one thing, you knew I was a bear shifter back at the fire. You told me to turn back.”
Victor nodded slowly, but his expression was still guarded. “I did.” Before I could continue, he said, “But humans know about bear shifters. Just because they don’t like them doesn’t mean they don’t know they exist.”
“You keep sayingthey,” I growled.
“I’m speaking from your point of view.”
“I don’t think you are.”
Silence fell. Tension hung in the air.
“When you were fighting with Nick, Ifeltit,” I said. “There was something inside you, right underneath the surface. You weren’t just angry, you were… almost feral.”
Victor stared at me but said nothing. His arm hung taut over the back of the couch.
“And there’s something else. When I take in your scent too deeply, I get this weird pain in my head. That’s what I was feeling when you got home. At first it wasn’t so bad, but now it’s getting more intense.” I suddenly felt small and lost. I sat back down next to him.
Victor frowned. He reached out stiffly and touched me on the shoulder. “Is it okay right now?”
“Yeah.”
But I wasn’t done with him yet. I was going to get an answer out of him, and he couldn’t weasel his way out by touching me.
“That's why, isn’t it?” I asked sharply. “That’s why Tristan left you?”
Victor’s eyes widened. He retracted his hand as if he’d been burned. A deep low growl built in his throat.
I knew it.
“Why didn’t you just tell me?” I said. Tears stung the corners of my eyes. “I know what it’s like to be different, to be a bear shifter. Of all the people you could have told, why didn’t you tell me?”
Victor was torn between his urge to run away again, or stay and prove me wrong. His fingers gripped the couch tightly. I shuffled closer to him.
“Victor,” I murmured. “Please tell me the truth.”
The growl built in Victor’s throat and escaped as hot huffs of air. His eyes were shut tight and his muscles tightened. I recognized what was going on. He was fighting with his inner bear.
“Don’t fight it,” I said. “Let it out.”
“I can’t!” Victor snapped.
“Yes, you can.” I touched his forearm. “Let me help you.”
Victor threw himself off the couch and stumbled to the opposite wall. The force of it nearly shook the apartment. He was clutching at the wall to stay upright and dragging his other hand down his face.
